Town marathoners' aim is fighting cancer

Jay Polansky

Updated 3:32 pm, Saturday, October 20, 2012

John McCarthy runs on the driveway of his Round Hill Road in Greenwich, Friday afternoon, Oct. 5, 2012. McCarthy will be running in the ING New York City Marathon Nov. 4 to raise money for the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a camp for kids with cancer and serious blood diseases that his son, Jeremiah, a cancer survivor, attended.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Long-distance runner Debbie Heelan of Bethel, at John McCarthy's Greenwich home, Friday afternoon, Oct. 5, 2012. Heelan will be running in the ING New York City Marathon Nov. 4 to raise money for the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a camp for kids with cancer and serious blood diseases that Jeremiah McCarthy, her friend's son, attended during his cancer illness.
Photo: Bob Luckey

John McCarthy, center, with his son, Jeremiah, 19, and his wife, Mary Beth, at their Greenwich home, Friday afternoon, Oct. 5, 2012. McCarthy will be running in the ING New York City Marathon Nov. 4 to raise money for the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a camp for kids with cancer and serious blood diseases that Jeremiah, a cancer survivor, attended.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Early next month, John plans to run the ING New York City Marathon in his Jeremiah's honor to benefit the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a free camp for youths with cancer and serious blood diseases, which Jeremiah attended for several years.

The training is grueling -- 100 miles a week at times. But John is determined to run the marathon and finish in under four hours.

He made a deal with his son: "I'll never quit if he never quits."

The cancer

Jeremiah began his battle with brain cancer during third grade. One day while attending Parkway School, he didn't feel quite well. He went to the bathroom and vomited.

When he walked out to the hallway, he collapsed and fell unconscious. Paramedics took him to Greenwich Hospital, where a doctor performed emergency surgery. The diagnosis was anaplastic glioneurocytoma.

Jeremiah has had four brain surgeries, one reconstructive surgery, two rounds of chemotherapy and proton beam radiation. And through it all, he's had the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. Located in Ashford, the camp provided solace to both Jeremiah and his family.

Put simply by Jeremiah, "It's a good way to get away from ... dealing with cancer."

Mary Beth said the camp staff, including doctors, greeted them at the entrance in costume. "They were like `come on in,' " she said.

The camp doesn't just welcome children -- it has programs for parents and siblings too. Jeremiah's sister, Sarah, stayed for a week, particularly enjoying the theater program, Mary Beth said.

Mary Beth and John also enjoyed a luncheon, among other programs. And, of course, for Jeremiah there were the recreational camp activities.

Jeremiah climbed the rock wall, worked in the woodshop, went fishing, and shot some arrows in archery. And once, they simulated a search-and-rescue mission.

"That was cool," he said. "Different."

Running for others

Most days, John laces up his blue-and-gray Asics sneakers early in the morning and goes for a run. Then he goes for another in the evening.

John typically runs alone three days a week. The other days he runs with the Van Cortlandt Track Club, where he is a member.

"My days off now have been when I do only one (run) a day instead of two," he said.

Running can get grueling, but John has a method. He read in a magazine that runners should think about one person per mile to keep them going. So he does.

"If I'm struggling through a run, I'll think about Jeremiah. I will think about my family -- also I know Debbie is training too," she said. "I definitely use my group to fall back on."

Jeremiah, too, might have caught the running bug. He has started running. Heelan said he was even thinking of running the marathon with her and his father.

"Next year?" Heelan asked Jeremiah. "Couple of years," he replied.

Heelan, a longtime runner who has known Mary Beth since elementary school and John since high school, was to race in the marathon with John, but suffered an injury in September while running a 20-mile race.

"It was a unique moment, because we had many friends in common, but she and I had actually never met before," Peter said.

Karena's mom, Leslie Bullock, was also at the party. While Peter said he noticed she had short hair, it never occurred to him she had brain cancer.

"You couldn't tell by looking at her," he said.

Peter and Karena cared for her mother as their relationship developed.

He said they became stronger during that time, developing a sense of honesty and commitment, which is the foundation of their marriage.

"During that time, I think we both saw in one another someone that we want to spend the rest of our lives with," Peter said.

Bullock died in September 2006.

Peter will be running the New York marathon for B*Cured, a Greenwich nonprofit group providing grants for brain cancer research.

"There's so little known about brain cancer and how to effectively treat it," Peter said. "There's no known cause and no known cure."

He said the tumor Bullock had, a glioblastoma, grows like a tree branch or an octopus' appendage. "It makes it that more difficult to treat," he said.

Greenwich resident Christina Vitale, 35, knows about cancer too. Her dad died of cancer when she was 9 years old. "I was a little girl," she said. "At that point, I hadn't really understood what was happening."

Years later, her mom was hit by a car and diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury.

Then, when Vitale was getting married, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. "It was horrifying," Vitale said. Her mother is now in remission.

Vitale will also run the marathon with B*Cured. "I feel like we have a moral obligation to give back in every way we can," she said.